Waiting to Exhale

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2:39

Waiting to Exhale

R

1995

2h 1m

Comedy

Drama

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

56%

Tomatometer

34 Reviews

79%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Navigating through careers, family and romance, four friends bond over the shortcomings in their love lives -- namely, the scarcity of good men. Both as the "other woman," Savannah (Whitney Houston) and Robin (Lela Rochon) carry on relationships with married men, each believing their lovers will leave their wives for them. On the flip side, Bernadine (Angela Bassett) ends up alone when her husband divorces her for his mistress. Meanwhile, Gloria (Loretta Devine) finds love with a new neighbor.

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Critics Consensus

Waiting to Exhale looks at life's ups and downs from an underseen perspective -- albeit one that's poorly served by uneven acting and a sporadically interesting story.

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Geoff Brown

The Times (UK)

12/20/2023

The film, based on Terry McMillan's novel, no doubt began with higher ambitions than magazine fiction to be read under a hairdrier: but its development is so bald and the colors so glossy that magazine fiction is the result.

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Hugo Davenport

Daily Telegraph (UK)

12/20/2023

It comes across as a bland buppie soap opera, with scant storyline outside the shortcomings of a series of more or less useless, unattractive, unreliable or married men.

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Nigel Andrews

Financial Times

12/20/2023

Glutinous but pseudo-feminist.

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Sheila Reid

Women in the Life

05/13/2022

Director Forest Whitaker deserves a huge round of applause for bringing this overbloated story to the big screen screen in a succinct yet heartwarming manner.

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Justin Brown

Medium Popcorn

12/31/2020

3/5

I did enjoy watching this. It wasn't painful.

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Tatiana Albandos

Medium Popcorn

12/31/2020

3/5

This soundtrack is bomb.

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Farah R.

@Farah Jan 20

Grounded in the stellar performances of its lead actresses, Waiting to Exhale offers an impactful tale of womanhood. It does get a bit too melodramatic at times, but it works with the orchestral score and vintage look of the 90s.

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Renaissance M

@RenaissanceMan Jan 15

Reasonably good, if a bit soap opera-ish. It tells the story of four friends over the course of a year. It does focus exclusively on romance as a means to improve one's life in a way that feels regressive today, but not bad overall.

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moon s

@moon90 Jan 9

beautiful cast of angela bassett, whitney houston, lela rochon and loretta devine. i admire angelas and savannah's strength and wish the best for robin, but i absolutely love the kind and humanizing nature of gloria, her voice is so sweet, the 2 hr long movie is several stories tied into one making you feel like a lesson learned through others lives, a must watch and a 90s classic

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Shakera T

@Shakikiiiiiii Dec 30

Absolutely loved it! Black womanhood and friendship personified. Also very nostalgic! Amazing soundtrack also.

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VITALII H

@freakynickison Dec 23

Watched it for the first time and definitely not for the last. The movie felt so cozy, funny, true and simple that it lightened up my mood. It’s about the marriage, friendship and livelihood in general. I absolutely loved the music that was used in it. I really enjoyed this film and didn’t want it to end.

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Geoff M

@madsongeoff Oct 16

There's less context than in McMillan's novel, and more lingerie. But the theme of (black) women searching for acceptance and empowerment is equally strong, especially in Angela Bassett's gale-force performance as Bernadine.

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Forest Whitaker

Director

Whitney Houston

Savannah 'Vannah' Jackson

Angela Bassett

Bernadine 'Bernie' Harris

Lela Rochon

Robin Stokes

Loretta Devine

Gloria 'Glo' Matthews

Gregory Hines

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Waiting to Exhale: Trailer 1

2:39

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Synopsis

Navigating through careers, family and romance, four friends bond over the shortcomings in their love lives -- namely, the scarcity of good men. Both as the "other woman," Savannah (Whitney Houston) and Robin (Lela Rochon) carry on relationships with married men, each believing their lovers will leave their wives for them. On the flip side, Bernadine (Angela Bassett) ends up alone when her husband divorces her for his mistress. Meanwhile, Gloria (Loretta Devine) finds love with a new neighbor.

Director: Forest Whitaker
Producer: Deborah Schindler, Ezra Swerdlow
Screenwriter: Terry McMillan, Ronald Bass
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: 20th Century Fox
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 22, 1995, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $64.2M
Runtime: 2h 1m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo